Criminal Records Bureau

Personnel Checks is an approved Umbrella Body of the Criminal Records Bureau and is one of the top 50 CRB Umbrella bodies in the UK.

The Criminal Records Bureau is a Government organisation which helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevents unsuitable people working with vulnerable groups by carrying out CRB checks on individuals.

Personnel Checks plays a very important role on behalf of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to ensure smaller organisations can gain access to its valuable public service. We act as the main point of contact for all interaction.

Personnel Checks is listed as an official CRB umbrella body on the Criminal Records Bureau website where further information can be found.

We cannot answer queries relating to CRB applications not made through Personnel Checks.

How are CRB Checks Processed by the Criminal Records Bureau?

A Standard CRB Check

Stage 1 – the CRB accept and validate the application

Stage 2 – the Police National Computer is checked*

Stage 3 – Completion – the disclosure is printed and sent to the applicant’s home address. The applicant then passes the information on to the Recruitment Decision Maker at the organisation.

An Enhanced CRB Check

Stage 1 – the CRB accept and validate the application

Stage 2 – the Police National Computer is checked*

Stage 3 – the Children’s and/or Vulnerable Adults list is checked

Stage 4 – Local Police Searches start

Stage 5 – Completion – the disclosure is printed and sent to the applicant’s home address. The applicant then passes the information on to the Recruitment Decision Maker at the organisation.

The first 3 stages are fairly quick – usually done within a week or so, stage 4 is the longest due to the police forces being inundated with applications (some can receive 14,000 applications a week) and they cannot prioritise as all are dealt with in order of the date they are received. If applicants have had several different addresses then their application will go to the several different local police forces.

The police have 60 days to complete their searches and we cannot chase until this time has lapsed. This is 60 days from Stage 4 and not from when the application was sent to the Criminal Records Bureau. It is our responsibility to chase these applications.

After an application has been at Stage 4 for 60 days we can request that this is prioritised by the CRB. The CRB will then email the police and send us a 10 day completion request letter (a copy of this is sent to the client).

After 10 days if the disclosure is not completed the CRB will release the name of the police force holding the application and we can write to them asking why it is taking so long to process (a copy of this letter is also sent to the client).

When an application gets to this stage then we chase it weekly with the CRB until it is completed. Every time we speak to the CRB then they send another email reminder to the police and we also update the client.

*When the police national computer is searched if an applicants’ details match someone who is known to the police then the applicant may have to undergo a fingerprint test – the Criminal Records Bureau will issue a request for this which we pass onto the client.